John Miner's
Suzuki LJ80 Project

Brisbane Queensland
Australia
Ph: 0421 046273
John Miner


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I now have a large range of LJ80 and Vitara parts (no body panels left) and I will soon be wrecking  an LJ50.

email for prices

johneminer@gmail.com

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My daily drive is a Suzuki Sierra (Samurai) with a Suzuki Vitara motor & 
gearbox.

-------------------

The project for 2010 is a LJ80 rebuild with a small block V8 motor if I
can get it in.

It's going to need some serious reinforcing and component upgrades
(suspension, brakes, steering etc).


 

Photo Gallery of the build

LJ80 finished  

              The "Rocket"

 

1. The original LJ80
    before restoration
 

2. Cutting out rust
 

3. Painting
 

4. The finished project
 



Contact Information

Email:  
 johneminer@gmail.com
Mail:     P.O. Box 140
              Springwood Qld
              Australia 4127

Mobile: 0421 046273


John's real job
www.johnminerphotographer.com.au

 

John's Workshop

lj80
The LJ80 with the Corolla Motor

lj80

LJ80
The Sierra (Samurai) with the Vitara Motor

LJ80






LJ80

 




THE NEW PROJECT

I was looking at ways to upgrade the performance and safety of the LJ80.

I thought about fitting Vitara independent suspension etc but after looking into it I decided to fit the LJ80 body onto a Vitara rolling chassis.

PHOTOS HERE


About the original Project

The original project started in March 2004 when I bought a soft top LJ80 for $600
which was a little too expensive but it was the first soft top I had seen that wasn't
rusted out.

This car wasn't running and it had quite a lot of  rust, but it was repairable (I used a
full 6' x 4' sheet of steel plate in the build), and it had all new tyres.

Over the next few week I bought 2 other LJ80's for parts, one was a hard top
LJ80V, this had had a lot of new parts fitted but had a blown motor. The other car was
completely rusted out and ultimately had very few parts of use.

The owner of the hardtop had bought a 1000cc Suzuki Sierra motor to replace the blown
motor and he included this in the deal. It was also fitted with expensive shocks and
steering damper etc ($3000 worth).

I made a few improvements to the new motor including electronic ignition & exhaust
headers.

The bonnet and back swing door (with the spare tyre on it) had to be almost completely
rebuilt because of major rust and dent damage.

Modifications to the car include a body lift of 2 inches, gas shocks all around, I fitted 
disc brakes on the front and a A frame (for towing the LJ80 behind our motorhome).

I may put the fittings back for the original soft top although I have had a small soft top
made to keep the rain off the head.  I also up-graded the seats.

I made 2 lockable boxes for storage. One is between the seats which also makes a good
armrest (I padded the top) and the other one sits in the back and carries recover gear,
camping equipment and spare oil and water etc.

I recently fitted a UHF 2 way radio and a CD player/Radio with 4 speakers.

I had the centres of the wheels cut and and reversed the rims to widen the wheel base,
I also fitted spaces to make them slightly wider, It will now climb trees (well almost!).

I had budgeted $1500 for the build and blew the budget in the first month, I lost track
of how much I spent (I stopped counting after $4000).

I have a lot of parts left over and most are for sale. I also have a workshop manual
for the LJ80 and one for a LJ50, These are available 0n CD for $19.95 plus postage
(or can be emailed).  Both are on the same CD.



http://kobu.com                           

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